Swimming is a great workout
In regard to a choice a friend has made, ask, “Why do you decide to do that?” After the friend gives his or her initial response, ask that she or he elaborates so that you can understand his or her thinking. In your log, explain why you decided to ask that friend about that particular decision, describe the context within which your conversation occurred, and write down the questions you used to get a full and accurate understanding of your friend’s reasoning. Then write your friend’s response as fully as possible. Capture not only the option chosen, but the other options considered and the reasons leading to rejecting those options and selecting the option chosen. Carefully analyze what your friend said, but do not evaluate. In your log, map the decision your friend made, showing the reasoning process as objectively and fair-mindedly as possible, whether you agree or disagree with it. In fact, go out of your way not to reveal your evaluation of your friend’s decision. Individual Exercises Analyze and map the arguments in these quotes: 1. “Swimming is a great workout. When you swim you use all your muscles.” 2. “If it weren’t for how much it costs and how big it is, I’d buy that TV for our bedroom.” 3. Why did Billboards stop listing older albumsonits “Billboard 200” web page? Simple—it’s about money. The recording companies make money selling the most popular new albums. There is no money for them in the old releases people can download from iTunes. 4. “Michael Jackson was truly the ‘king of pop.’ Just look at all that he achieved. He was a pop sensation by the time he was 11 years old. His album, Thriller, was the best-selling album of all time. He started out in show business when he was only 5, and he performed for more than 40 years. And he had millions of fans all over the world.” 5. “People believe that small class sizes are essential for better learning. I’m not convinced. I say that a good teacher with a large group can be just as effective as a lousy teacher with a small group.” 6. “AstudyintheSanMateoCountyschoolsofsecond grade students’ reading and math skills shows that Share a draft of the map with your friend and explain to your friend how to interpret it. Listen to your friend’s comments about the accuracy of your analysis as it is revealed in the draft decision map you made. Note in your log all the amendments or revisions your friend wants to offer. Make another draft of the decision map in your log and compare the two side by side. Reflect on what you learned by allowing your friend to view and comment on your analysis. Did your friend change his or her story, add more reasons in favor of the selected choice, add more reasons opposed to rejected choices, ask you to remove argument strands that looked like weak reasons, or ask you to bolster argument strands that looked flimsy? Using the Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric from Section 1, add a final part to your reflective log in, which you permit yourself a few evaluative comments on your friend’s decision making.Individual Exercises Analyze and map the arguments in these quotes: 1. “Swimming is a great workout. When you swim you use all your muscles.” 2. “If it weren’t for how much it costs and how big it is, I’d buy that TV for our bedroom.” 3. WhydidBillboardstoplistingolderalbumsonits “Billboard 200” web page? Simple—it’s about money. The recording companies make money selling the most popular new albums. There is no money for them in the old releases people can download from iTunes. 4. “Michael Jackson was truly the ‘king of pop.’ Just look at all that he achieved. He was a pop sensation by the time he was 11 years old. His album, Thriller, was the best-selling album of all time. He started out in show business when he was only 5, and he performed for more than 40 years. And he had millions of fans all over the world.” 5. “People believe that small class sizes are essential for better learning. I’m not convinced. I say that a good teacher with a large group can be just as effective as a lousy teacher with a small group.” 6. “AstudyintheSanMateoCountyschoolsofsecond grade students’ reading and math skills shows that Share a draft of the map with your friend and explain to your friend how to interpret it. Listen to your friend’s comments about the accuracy of your analysis as it is revealed in the draft decision map you made. Note in your log all the amendments or revisions your friend wants to offer. Make another draft of the decision map in your log and compare the two side by side. Reflect on what you learned by allowing your friend to view and comment on your analysis. Did your friend change his or her story, add more reasons in favor of the selected choice, add more reasons opposed to rejected choices, ask you to remove argument strands that looked like weak reasons, or ask you to bolster argument strands that looked flimsy? Using the Holistic Critical Thinking Scoring Rubric from Section 1, add a final part to your reflective log in, which you permit yourself a few evaluative comments on your friend’s decision making. M05_FACI9661_03_SE_C05.indd 108 24/12/14 7:50 AM 7. 8. students from classes averaging 15 to 20 students scored significantly higher than students from classes averaging 25 to 35 students. A second study looking at the same test scores for fourth and fifth grade students in the Fresno County schools showed the same results. Kids from the schools with average class sizes around 30 had significantly lower scores, on average, than did kids coming from schools with class sizes around 17. Three other studies, all of them conducted several years ago in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Anaheim, reported similar findings. So, it is reasonable to conclude that average class size makes a difference when it comes to elementary school students’ test score results in math and reading.” “Everyone knows that if we ever needed change in Washington DC, it is now. And, everyone believes that change is possible. So, elect me! I can bring the change we need in Washington DC.” “The university’s anti-bias policy goes too far. I agree that campus clubs should be open to anyone. But the part of the anti-bias policy that says that leadership positions in those clubs must be open to anyone is the problem. What about religious clubs. Should a Palestinian be permitted to hold aleadership position in the campus club for Jewish students? If a conservative Christian fellowship club wants to ban gays from leadership positions, it should have the right to do so without being kicked-off campus.”14 9. “Nobodyreallybelievesinclimatechange.Youcantell that by how people act. Political leaders don’t pass the legislation needed to change our nation’s dependence on carbon-based fuels. Cities do not require solar heating in all new construction. We keep building condos along the ocean in places that will flood as the sea levels rise. We pave over our farms to build suburbs. Instead of wearing a sweater, we keep the thermostat too high in the winter. Instead of taking off our suit jackets, we keep office buildings too cold in the summer.” 10. “Manyfamilieswhohavepetdogsalsohavechildren. Julio and Teresa have a cute pet dog named Bowser. I know because Teresa was talking about Bowser and how he loves to put his paws on the windowsill and bark at the passing cars. I overheard her telling Arnold about Bowser and the cars last week. So, long story short, Julio and Teresa probably have a couple of kids, too.” 11. “I need a break! It’s been nothing but nonstop work since last Thursday. I didn’t even get a weekend. My parents visited unexpectedly, and that was majorly stressful.” 12. “So, let me get this right. You’re Harvey’s sister’s husband. And you’re saying that Harvey is actually my uncle. So, this makes his sister my aunt. And, I guess that makes you my uncle, too. Wow.” 13. “A 2014 study in the Journal of Urban Health linked Missouri’s 2007 repeal of gun permit background checks to an increase of 60 murders per year statewide. During the same years homicide rates nationally decreased. Homicide rates involving guns remained steady in neighboring states where laws were not changed. Other possible explanations for the increase in gun related homicides in Missouri, such as incarceration rates, were ruled out statistically. Therefore, gun control regulations save lives.15 14. The new store manager called the staff together and said, “Looking at our marketing, I think we need to make some changes. First, the display in the store window looks like something out of the 1980s. It’s dated and shabby looking. Second, our in- store signage isn’t colorful. There are no pictures of happy people. The signs are so small they are hard to read. And they are positioned in places that make them unnecessarily hard for our customers to find. Third, we have to do something about our Web site. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. When was the last time it was updated—2008? It is clunky, confusing, wordy, and has lots of out-of-date information. Our phone number on the Web site is wrong, for heaven’s sake! Finally, our newspaper ads are a total waste of money. Why are we paying graphic designers and printers to produce things nobody pays any attention to? We keep printing 10 percent coupons in those newspaper ads but we have not had any customers bring in a coupon from one of those ads in over three months.” “Everyone has two biological parents. Each of them in turn had two biological parents. So, it must be true that in our grandparents’ day there were four times as many people as there are today!” “I was about to register online for music updates, but decided not to. The thing was that if you registered they gave you an e-mail account. You couldn’t use any of your existing e-mail accounts. And the last thing I wanted was one more e-mail account. It takes too much of my day to check the three I already have.” Frontline, the PBS documentary series, describes how for-profit colleges are changing how Americans think about higher education. The PBS website highlights the May 4, 2010 Frontline broadcast, “College Inc.” with “The business of higher education is booming. It’s a $400 billion industry fueled by taxpayer money.” Analyze and map the arguments and counterarguments as presented in that PBS documentary for the claim that the for-profit college12. “So, let me get this right. You’re Harvey’s sister’s husband. And you’re saying that Harvey is actually my uncle. So, this makes his sister my aunt. And, I guess that makes you my uncle, too. Wow.” 13. “A 2014 study in the Journal of Urban Health linked Missouri’s 2007 repeal of gun permit background checks to an increase of 60 murders per year statewide. During the same years homicide rates nationally decreased. Homicide rates involving guns remained steady in neighboring states where laws were not changed. Other possible explanations for the increase in gun related homicides in Missouri, such as incarceration rates, were ruled out statistically. Therefore, gun control regulations save lives.15 14. The new store manager called the staff together and said, “Looking at our marketing, I think we need to make some changes. First, the display in the store window looks like something out of the 1980s. It’s dated and shabby looking. Second, our in- store signage isn’t colorful. There are no pictures of happy people. The signs are so small they are hard to read. And they are positioned in places that make them unnecessarily hard for our customers to find. Third, we have to do something about our Web site. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. When was the last time it was updated—2008? It is clunky, confusing, wordy, and has lots of out-of-date information. Our phone number on the Web site is wrong, for heaven’s sake! Finally, our newspaper ads are a total waste of money. Why are we paying graphic designers and printers to produce things nobody pays any attention to? We keep printing 10 percent coupons in those newspaper ads but we have not had any customers bring in a coupon from one of those ads in over three months.” “Everyone has two biological parents. Each of them in turn had two biological parents. So, it must be true that in our grandparents’ day there were four times as many people as there are today!” “I was about to register online for music updates, but decided not to. The thing was that if you registered they gave you an e-mail account. You couldn’t use any of your existing e-mail accounts. And the last thing I wanted was one more e-mail account. It takes too much of my day to check the three I already have.” Frontline, the PBS documentary series, describes how for-profit colleges are changing how Americans think about higher education. The PBS website highlights the May 4, 2010 Frontline broadcast, “College Inc.” with “The business of higher education is booming. It’s a $400 billion industry fueled by taxpayer money.” Analyze and map the arguments and counterarguments as presented in that PBS documentary for the claim that the for-profit college business is booming and that its boom is being fueled by taxpayer money. The 2012 historical film Lincoln, includes a scene where President Lincoln explains why he wants the Thirteenth Amendment passed by Congress before the end of the Civil War. If you can get access to the film, which is enjoyable in its own right,
locate that scene and write down the arguments pro and con that the characters articulate. Then map those arguments.
The long running Showtime series Penn&Teller: Bullshit!
examines the arguments for some of the most cherished urban myths, popular misconceptions, and “Internet in our culture. The show is definitely not PG. There is always a dollop of vulgarity and sexual
explicitness to these broadcasts. But each show does make an argument, not necessarily a strong argument, but an argument nevertheless. In the case of show 10 of season 8, “Vaccinations” (August 28, 2010), Penn and Teller argue that the anti-vaccination movement is, well, not to put too fine a point on it, thoroughly mistaken
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